Diminishing
by Fairytale Warrior
Summary: "Saphira brought him into her own mind, trying to shield him from the unbearable agony but he quickly withdrew because Roran was shouting at him too and he knew…" Alternate ending to the story, angsty as fuck. You've had your warning.


**Disclaimer: Don't own the Inheritance Cycles**

Diminishing:

Eragon's body felt oddly numb when he first woke after his battle with Galbatorix, as though it wasn't really there or that it wasn't even his. He was quickly reassured, however, when a horrid wave of pain tore into him like a starved beor pouncing on a fat nagra. He gasped and would have screamed if his throat had allowed it. Before he could try and arch his back a force pressed down onto his shoulders, gentle but firm, and words he could not understand or even really hear were whispered in his ears. As the moments passed he realized that the words were not being whispered but rather screamed at him.

"Eragon! It's alright, calm down and breathe...that's right, as deep a breath as you can," another wave of furious agony stabbed his lung when he went too far and he returned to struggling a few seconds later. Had the pain been any less than what it was he might have noticed that he was lifted and his naked back pressed against warm fabric. "Breathe with me Eragon; match your breathing with mine." He focused himself on the rise and fall of a man's well-built chest working behind him with all the discipline he'd learned over the past few months and steadily began to match his own to it. Once he'd finally acquired control over himself, Eragon allowed his eyes to slide open. He could not make them go anywhere past half-lidded as he gazed with a slow, detached sense of indifference at what was obviously the interior of a tent.

The voice behind him sighed, "this is giving me flashbacks to the time you got mauled by a bear in the Spine." There was a dry chuckle before the voice muttered, "though I think that might be easier than this by a long shot."

A weak cough escaped Eragon and in it he could taste copper, "R-Rora-an?" he asked.

Roran's beard tickled the back of his cousin's neck as he smile-grimaced and gently squeezed the groggy man's upper arm in a comforting gesture.

"Yeh, it's me," he spoke softly, as softly as Eragon had.

The rider's breath hitched and he blinked a few times as his vision became fuzzy and dark. "Did," he wheezed and broke off, chest rising and falling rapidly as he was again tackled by pain, "did we w-in?"

Roran's chest bounced against his back as he laughed, "won? We did more than that- _you _did more than that. There isn't enough left of Galbatorix for me to so much as _spit _on!"

A weak smile crossed Eragon's face, "then why are you crying, Roran?" His cousin's raspy, pain filled voice was difficult to hear but Roran could listen to it till the end of his days because it _meant_ something, something so,_ so_ important to him. Something he could not say. And indeed the tears rolled down his cheeks and soaked through his beard- those that didn't made their way onto Eragon's neck or into his hair.

Roran tightened his hold on his kin, the only family he had left in this world.

"Damnit, Eragon," he choked out, the tears making his body tremble as he half-screamed into his brother's shoulder, "_**Damnit!**_"

Eragon said nothing, _couldn't_ say anything, and while his brother grieved he reached out with his thoughts to his partner-of-heart-and-mind.

_Saphira?_ he asked to the darkness. Faster than he could blink the warm vastness of her mind engulfed his like a mother bear protecting her cub.

_Eragon!_ she was fighting back a multitude of emotions; fear, grief, anger, self-disgust.

_Is it true?_ he asked, not really knowing what else to say.

_Is what, my Little One?_ she gave him energy and sent him an image of a small flock of finches chasing off a crow.

He smiled.

_You know wha_- agony, the obliterator, pierced his thoughts and dragged him down. All the words he'd wanted to say to her, all the comfort he'd hope to bring Roran, disappeared in its presence and all there was was pain.

A lightning bolt of fear coursed through to him from Saphira and she screamed his name through their link.

That was all the answer he needed from her.

His vision had gone black and yet the world tilted with odd globules of dark reds and yellows and the occasional slip of silver. Saphira brought him into her own mind, trying to shield him from the unbearable agony but he quickly withdrew because Roran was shouting at him too and he knew…

He knew…

He knew…

…"_-don't_ _you dare die on me-_!"…

…That it was true…

**-Because life isn't about last words and long goodbyes, you may not get the chance to say everything in those last moments….-**

_The sun was warm on Eragon's face, a dazzling array of gold and red and orange and warm yellow as it dipped down on the horizon. A cooling wind touched his face and tousled his hair. The trees whistled and whispered in nature's comforting breath and bird-song filled the evening air. But Eragon could not share in its contented pleasure, a contrite look pulling through his eyes. _

_Roran bumped his arm, the fire a mere pile of sticks waiting to be lit behind the rocky alcove they sat on, "I hope that melancholy look doesn't have anything to do with rescuing Katrina."_

"_It very well could," his cousin spoke forlornly and Saphira looked up from where she lay, basking on the rocks beside him._

Little One,_ she keened softly, knowing exactly what was on his mind._

_Roran sent her a look, his own concern exacerbated by the sound. "What is it?" he asked seriously. _

_Eragon sighed and stood up, taking a few steps forward he gazed at the dying sun for a while and then turned to them both and said, "no one really expects to die at the exact moment they do. They know it's going to happen but they don't know when, how, or why. You know? So, with the likely-hood of my death as high as it is in these times I just want to say this in case I don't get the chance to in the future." Roran opened his mouth to say something but was stopped when Eragon held up a hand and smiled wryly. "I love you, the both of you. The two of you are my family and without you I'm not sure who I would be right now. You've helped shape me into who I am today and should I die I want you to know that never for a moment have I not fought for you, for everyone. I beg you both, you specifically Saphira, to live without me should the time come." His gaze turned to his dragon, "I'll never die so long as you live for me. So we'll never have to say goodbye." He knew he was being selfish, he knew that he asked for a great deal but he couldn't stop himself from asking it of them. _

_He couldn't bear the thought of passing into the void knowing that they knew nothing of how much he cared for the two of them._

_Saphira reached out and pressed her forehead to her Rider's, _I'll never forget you always. And together we shall live as one, just as we've always done.

_Roran smiled and held a forearm in front of him. As Eragon bumped his own against it like the two of them used to do back at their farm he said, "It'd be a shame to have live in a world without you so I'll remember you for all the things you are. And Eragon?"_

_Eragon's face was shadowed by the sun behind him, a dark silhouette barely visible in the twilight. Somehow his eyes seemed all the brighter, so much more filled with life, because of it and Roran knew that he'd remember this moment until the day he died. _

"_Thank you"_

Thank you

But don't think I'll allow any maggot chewing two-legs take you from me, I'll eat them alive, _Saphira added to the both of them._

_Before Eragon could laugh Roran smiled and put in his own words, "I think Nasuada might convince the elves to resurrect you so she could kill you again for dying in the first place."_

I think you mean Arya would,_ Saphira corrected. The tips of Eragon's ears turned red and he batted at Saphira's muzzle. _

"_Saphira!" _

**-So say them now, give your goodbyes to those who you love before the opportunity is taken from you.-**

On the Bald Hill in Carvahall Eragon's body was buried, overlooking the beauty of the forest. Every evening Saphira could be found wrapped around the gravestone, watching the sun fall with her rider and when twilight ended, giving birth to the moon, she'd sometimes end her vigil with a sad bugle.

In the morning Roran would stand beside the grave and talk about meaningless things and one day he said to his brother, "Ismira spoke her first word today, do you know what she said? She said _Eragon_…"

And not a single creature forgot about him or what he did for them. His name was forever remembered and every year on the day of his birth, everyone celebrated.

He lived forever.

…**.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS :D **

**(I almost feel as though this wasn't sad enough)**

**On that note, read this to cheer yourself up a bit: www. fanfiction s /8818920/ 1 /Between-A-Man -and-His-Sleep**

**I put in spaces to keep Fanfiction from bitching so you'll want to fix that before putting in the URL**


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